When you think about natural disasters in Central Texas, tornadoes probably come to mind before earthquakes. But both are risks business owners shouldn’t completely overlook. While they may be less frequent than everyday property claims, a major event can cause significant damage to your building, equipment, inventory—and your ability to keep the doors open.
Does Commercial Property Insurance Cover Tornado Damage?
Generally, commercial property insurance can cover damage caused by windstorms and tornadoes, depending on the policy’s covered causes of loss and exclusions. A Businessowners Policy (BOP) or commercial property policy may protect your building, business personal property, and other covered property following a tornado.
But there’s an important second piece: business income coverage. If a covered tornado loss forces your business to temporarily close, business income coverage can help replace lost income and cover certain continuing expenses while you recover.
What About Earthquake Damage?
This is where things get a little trickier. Earthquake and other forms of earth movement are commonly excluded from standard commercial property policies. That means a business could have excellent property coverage and still have a significant gap if an earthquake damages its building or contents.
Depending on your business and location, earthquake coverage or an earthquake endorsement may be available to address this exposure.
What Should Central Texas Business Owners Do?
Don’t wait until the ground shakes—or the sirens sound—to find out what your policy actually covers.
At Dowd Insurance Agency, we can review your commercial property coverage, identify potential gaps, and help you evaluate options for earthquake, tornado, business income, and other catastrophic risks.
Because “I thought it was covered” is a pretty expensive sentence.
